Recipes and running from a long-term vegan

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This week’s runs were sort of pitiful. I need to get into marathon-training mode! Since my 15-miler a few weeks ago, I’ve had mostly uninspired runs. I had a few good hilly runs while in Boston a few weeks ago, but that’s about it.

too much light, but you can see the three distinct layers: slightly crunchy crust with a wholesome texture from oats; smooth frosting-ish layer with strong flavors of mint and vanilla; and soft, sweet chocolate on top. Divine.

This week’s runs: Monday 0, Tuesday and Wednesday, 3 each; Thursday 0; Friday 3; Saturday 5; and today, a sloggish 10. I woke up at 4:30 (!!!!) today in order to get up and at ’em prior to the wretched heat setting in too badly. It was still pretty darn hot, but at least the sun was mostly not out. I went through almost all of the water in my CamelBak, which is somewhat shocking for only a 10-miler. I dread longer runs in August….I may end up having to buy a new, bigger CamelBak. Ugh.

I’ve made this recipe a number of times, but I’ve never followed it exactly because I’ve never used nuts in the crust.

This is the only piece I ate. Right. Ahem.

Here’s what I did this time. I think the bars came out the best ever, and will make it this way again:

-I used all ground oats for the crust, and I melted the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder in with the margarine. This made the crust layer all fudgy. In fact, it was so good I think it could stand on its own. Note to self: make no-cook fudge using ground oats, cocoa powder, and confectioners’ sugar. NOW.

-I used just a tablespoon or so of cocoa powder in the crust layer, and about 2 1/2 tablespoons of margarine

-I used quite a bit of vanilla in the crust – 2 teaspoons, maybe?

-I used 2 tablespoons of margarine in the frosting layer, and lots of vanilla and peppermint extract

-I used about 2 tablespoons of margarine in the chocolate topping

Other variations I’ve made: crushed Oreos and margarine for the crust (yummy but crumbly) and combinations of whole and ground oats in the crust.

Oh my GOODNESS, it is hot here in the South! I stumbled through a 5-ish mile run this morning, and I really need to walk the dogs….but it is SO HOT! I’m not sure they even want to go.

The less cooking/baking in this weather, the better. Tonight’s dinner was a massive Thai curry, with tons of farmers’ market veggies: zucchini, squash, white eggplant, carrots, kale – YUM! The white egglants were surprisingly tender and did not have a strong flavor, as purple eggplants usually have. I also made some spring rolls, which I’ll post about later.

I haven’t turned on the oven in almost a week! Last week I made this crisp/cobbler (what’s the difference, anyways?), also with farmers’ market peaches and blackberries. It was so good! We served it to two sets of guests and everyone loved it. I used almond extract in the crisp topping because I was out of vanilla (gasp! horrors!) and I really like almond, particularly with fruit. Use either or both!

Put the fruit in a bowl; sprinkle with flour and sugar and stir gently until well-combined.

Peaches and blackberries mixed with the sugar and flour

Put flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the margarine and coconut oil until the mixture resembles coarse sand with a few pebbles thrown in. Add the extract(s) and stir to combine.

Put fruit into 2 9 x 13 pans, or other similarly sized pans. Pour topping on top and press down gently to ensure the fruit is covered. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until fruit is bubbly and topping is a nice light brown. Serve with your favorite vegan ice cream.

These. Bars. Are. AMAZING. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, as I’ve never had one before, and they were billed as high-protein and I’m not usually a high-protein kind of gal. Every now and then I buy a Luna or Clif bar, but in general I don’t buy bars. However, I will buy PureFit if I happen to see them at Whole Foods (or anywhere else). I got the Almond Crunch flavor. There was a distinct, but not too strong or bitter, almond flavor. I was worried that there would be too much crunch for my taste, but instead of being crunchy, the bar was dense and chewy with just little pieces (tiny) of almond that gave the bar a nice texture. I don’t like big chunks of nuts in my food, and these bars definitely did not have that. The bar is not a granola bar; it is denser and chewier than a granola bar. However, as the wrapper proclaims, it does not melt – even after being left in a car in the southern heat! The bar was sweet without being overly sweet. I find Luna and Clif bars to be too sweet, most of the time; these were NOT too sweet. Score!

I’m not big on calorie counting or fat counting or any of that, but these seemed to have good nutrition. The Almond Crunch bars have 220 calories and 18 (!!!) grams of protein, and 3 grams of fiber. I like a bar/snack witha good amount of fiber and/or fat, to help keep me full. These bars were GREAT in that regard – as a quick breakfast or snack, they really tided me over to the next meal. I have started stashing one in my bag on the days I’m running from one courthouse to another – they are a tasty, wholesome, filling snack on the go.

PureFit has several flavors – Cherry Almond, Brownie, Peanut Butter Crunch, Granola Crunch – AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM IS VEGAN!!! That is just totally awesome. I love finding a product line that is 100% vegan – it is so convenient to NOT have to read labels. They are all gluten-free, too. Definitely worth trying, especially if you want a bar that is not sickeningly sweet and has a solid dose of protein.

Today wasn’t as fun as most Fridays, as it was blastedly hot out, and we did not have time for the playground, library, OR coffee shop because the youngest had to get shots and I had to visit a client in jail…..but it was still reasonably fun because it was an office-less Friday! Always good, right? Plus, we are babysitting our friends’ dog, so now we have three dogs in the house, which again is always good! Husband and oldest child did a farmers’ market run while youngest and I were at the doctor’s office, so now we are fully stocked with more fresh veggies. I love summer veggies!

Look at those delicious roasted veggies! All set to be pureed into sauce.

I really need to post about the following: PureFit bars (thanks, www.loveveggiesandyoga.com!), my New Balance loot, including new running sneakers and some fun running clothes, and the totally hip new sandals I got at Okabashi. All very worthy posts. However, my camera is out of batteries so I kind of have to post about stuff for which I already have pictures. Hence, this super simple recipe for roasted tomato sauce. This is based on the tomato sauce recipe that goes with the paella recipe in The Voluptuous Vegan. The paella recipe is pretty involved, but this sauce is easy and SO GOOD. It is a bummer to have to turn on the oven in the summer, but if we have it on for something else – bread, cookies, eggplant for babaganoush (have I told you about our 3-year-old’s obsession with babaganoush?) – then I try to throw in some tomatoes and onions for this sauce. I really hope to freeze some for the winter, but somehow there’s never enough left.

I also thought the tomatoes and onions just looked really beautiful coming out of the oven. I didn’t get a picture of the finished sauce, but it is an interesting orangey/pink/red color – far less red than traditional jarred tomato sauce, which is probably due to the onions and olive oil.

8-10 tomatoes

2 onions

2 cloves of garlic, unpeeled

olive oil

coarse salt

pepper

several sprigs of fresh thyme or rosemary, if you have it

Roughly chop the tomatoes and onions. Place in one or two 9 x 13 pans; it’s okay if they are layered, but you don’t want them totally crowded. Liberally sprinkle olive oil over them, and spinkle with salt and pepper. Throw in the garlic cloves, unpeeled, and the rosemary or thyme, if using.

Heat oven to 375. Roast for about 45 minutes or until the tomatoes are slightly shrivelled and browned, and the onions are also slightly browned.

Let cool so that you can handle the veggies without burning yourself. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skin; pick off a few of the leaves of thyme or rosemary; all those to the tomatoes and onions.

Put the tomato and onion mixture in a blender. Be sure to scrape in all of that yummy olive oil…..it has its own flavor, plus that of the onions, garlic, and herb!

Blend until smooth. Enjoy over rice, veggies, pasta, whatever.

On a side note, my husband has been making some fresh-from-the-farmers’ market peach milkshakes, to which he’s been adding Whole Foods animal crackers – sort of like peach speculoss, right? Ground up animal crackers…yum!

Question: I’ve been thinking about changing my blog layout. I didn’t realize how dark it was, and how the posts overlapped on each other in a most annoying way, until very recently when I checked it without signing in. What makes a food blog easy to read? What sort of features should I look for (without leaving WordPress)?

I love veggies. I truly do. Fruit, not so much, but veggies – I could eat them all day long, every day. There’s not a veggie I don’t like, except for peas. I. LOVE. Veggies.

We are fortunate to have a farmers’ market open two days a week about a half-mile from our house. When we first moved here, there were NO farmers’ markets – I figured that we were in such a rural area that everyone knew someone with a farm and there was no need for a market. Lucky for us, that has changed recently. We typically walk up to the market once a week with the girls and stock up on fresh veggies and fruit. I love, love, LOVE fresh veggies. I’m not crazy about fruit but I’m working on that.

Check out the beautiful white eggplant! You can’t really see from this picture, but the yellow squash has green lines on it. Gorgeous!

Veg = beauty

Fresh kale – my favorite!!

Some of the chopped veggies to be used in a recipe

Peaches and blackberries, getting ready to be in a cobbler (recipe posted soon)

Cooking up some zucchini for the girls

Not from the farmers’ market, but another side dish – pressed tofu, cooked in the cast iron skillet with a dash of oil, soy sauce, and a sprinkling of nutritional yeast. An easy favorite, loved by kids and grown-ups!

I thought the produce he bought was so beautiful – individually and all together – that I just had to take some pictures of it.

My husband went to the market with the girls while I stayed home to clean for some guests. He went, in his own words, CRAZY – eggplant, white eggplant, pole beans, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, kale, blackberries, peaces. Almost all of it is gone, just half a week later. We most enjoyed just fresh, raw or lightly cooked veggies. I made kale chips; our guests made some delicious rice-paper rolls with fresh chopped veggies. My brother-in-law made a fabulous balsamic sauce to go along with the rolls. I usually stick to soy sauce/peanut sauce/other Asian-inspired sauces when I eat rice-paper rolls, and I never would have thought of using a balsamic reduction on them, but it was FANTASTIC. He cooks like me – a little bit of this, a little of that – so I couldn’t get him to figure out exact amounts, but this is what he could recount.

1 1/2 cups balsamic vinegar

1 ginger root, peeled and sliced very thinly

2-3 teaspoons sugar

Stir in a small pot; bring to a simmer and cook until it is reduced by about 1/2. This seemed to take about a half hour. You could probably reduce it less; it just wouldn’t be as thick.

The ginger gives the vinegar a nice, spicy bite, and the vinegar is nicely syrupy without being too sweet. My favorite part, however, was eating the ginger – it was soft and sweet, almost like ginger candy. Delish.

Honestly, I am just too sleepy to write a real post, but I CAN write a thumbs-up post, because those are relatively easy. Part of last week’s hecticness was a trip to Boston, where I got to see family, buy ethically-sources running sneaks, and indulge in some take-out from one of my new favorite restaurants, Red Lentil in Watertown. Red Lentil is pretty new; I used to live in Watertown and it definitely wasn’t there 10 years ago. It is vegetarian but has a HUGE vegan selection, and a lot of things can be made vegan even if they are not listed as such on the menu. I really like their Ethiopian teff seitan; I’ve had it before, and enjoyed it again this time. We got a number of dishes to split, so I also tried the risotto (made vegan). It is not something I would have ordered on my own, but it was DELICIOUS! Creamy, a nice chewiness to the rice, lots of veggies mixed in…..delish!

One thing that is absolutely mandatory if you eat at Red Lentil is their gobi Manchurian. It is fusion Indian food. It is a fried cauliflower dish in a sort-of-spicy sauce. It is seriously the best thing ever. Newspaper reviews of Red Lentil always mention the Gobi Manchurian, and always in an awed manner. The chef of the restaurant published the recipe as part of a newspaper interview; I’ve made it once and it was fabulous, but not quite as good as the restaurant’s version. I think that my fault, though, because I did not use chick pea flour and instead used regular flour. I bought chick pea flour today, though, and so now I can make my own Gobi Manchurian!

Another necessity on a trip to Red Lentil is the desserts. This time I tried a cinnamony-molasses-y cake with an intensely-Earth Balance frosting. The cinnamon flavor was strong without being overwhelming; the cake was sweet and moist but not wet or overly sweet; and the super-rich frosting was a nice contrast to the spice of the cinnamon. I have got to re-create that cake somehow!

If you are ever in the Boston/Cambridge area, I HIGHLY recommend Red Lentil. It is just a T bus ride away from the red line, and well, well worth it. Boston does not have a huge vegan scene, or at least it did not until recently, and this is really one of the best restaurants I’ve been to, ever. Score one for Boston!

Grilled seitan and tofu in a wrap – on a homemade whole-wheat flax tortilla, natch!

this stuff was good – as in, one of the best things we’ve ever made at home, ever, and on a par with meals we’ve eaten in veg restaurants. Plus, it’s easy to make, and relatively quick. I’m sure it’s high in fat, but fat’s good for you, right? This reminds us of the seitan we got at one of our favorite vegan restaurants, Grasshopper in Boston. The seitan is dense without being gummy/chewy (as boiled seitan can be), and it is packed with flavor. I’ve tried many, many seitan methods/recipes over the years, and I really think this is now going to be my standard, go-to seitan recipe. It’s that good (and that easy). The texture is far superior to that of boiled seitan, plus this is a non-finicky recipe; you don’t have to worry about keeping the water at gentle simmer. TRY IT! You won’t regret it.

3/4 cup wheat gluten

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Italian herbs, optional

1 tablespoon oil

~1/2 cup water

Mix dry ingredients. Stir in oil and water; you might need slightly more water. You want the dough to come together in a mass; you don’t want it crumbly (dry) or so wet that it doesn’t hold shape.

Let the dough sit for at least an hour, and up to several days (in the fridge).

Prepare a marinade. I used the following, approximately (this will make more than you need; just save it for the next batch):

1/3 cup oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons dijon mustard

several large garlic cloves, pressed

Whisk together until the oil and liquids are emulsified.

Slice the ball of seitan into thin slices – not paper-thin, but thin. I usually get about 20 slices out of one ball of seitan using these proportions.

Place the sliced seitan in a 9 x 13 or other large pan. Cover each piece with marinade and let sit for at least an hour or so; flip each piece so that there’s marinade on both sides. You don’t need it to soak in the marinade; sometimes I just let the marinade soak into one side, and that seems to sufficiently infuse the seitan with deliciousness. You will probably have leftover marinade.

Heat up a stove-top grill for a few minutes. Put the seitan on the heated grill and cook on each side for 5-7 minutes, or until browned.

This is good in sandwiches, as a side, cold, hot, WHATEVER. It is just plain delicious.

You can almost see it sizzling……yum!

Question: Do you like seitan? Do you have a favorite brand or recipe? When I lived in Ithaca, I looooved Susie’s Seitan, which was a local product. Here, in rural SC, it is hard to find seitan, so I either make it or do without. I don’t use it a whole lot, but everytime I have some I enjoy it.

In addition to Friday Fun posts, I’m going to start Sunday Running Round-ups: a summary of my weekly running, because the daily running posts are a little….bleh.

Monday: 6 miles

Tuesday: 4 miles

Wednesday: 0 miles

Thursday: 3 miles

Friday: 2ish miles

Saturday: 15 miles

Sunday: an easy 3 miles with my favorite furry buddy (I’m not showing favoritism between my two dogs here. My other dog is not furry. Thus, Shadow really is my favorite furry buddy.)

Today was the first round of homemade vegan ice cream of the season. I used almond milk, and topped it off with my husband’s hot fudge sauce, which is based off of my mom’s recipe which he veganized. The ice cream was a great texture (which is more than half the battle when it comes to homemade vegan ice cream) but it wasn’t sweet, so I need to adjust the porportions of ingredients.

I also made fudgsicles for the kids: banana, almond milk, cocoa powder, blended and then frozen in these cute little molds my sister-in-law gave us. Only the oldest got one because the youngest didn’t eat anything for dinner, but the oldest loved her first popsicle. I think she also loved learning how to say the word ‘popsicle’. Cute.

Dinner was a stir-fry with lots of veggies, brown rice, tofu. Good, but not my best, and not picture- or blog-worthy. Eh.